The present invention pertains to a gasket or packing, and more especially to an elastomeric packing for use in a clamped connection, particularly in a flanged joint.
In known clamping connections, such as, for example, flanged joints, the corresponding packings have a closed and full cross section, which in the compressed state completely fills the space provided for the packing (DE-OS No. 23, 53 442 and DE-Gbm No. 74 14 342). In the case of, for example, O-ring shaped packings with relatively slight prestressing paths (deformations), high restoring forces (deformation forces) result, which stress the joint in turn and many lead to the bending of the flanged edging area until the joint is functionally disabled. On the other hand, certain minimum sealing forces must be assured based on a given internal pressure. As a result of the constant sealing mass, on the one hand, and as a result of tolerances existing in this type of joints due to the manufacturing process, i.e., of the flange, the thickness of the sheet metal and the packing, on the other hand, and also because of the progressively rising stress-strain characteristic of the packing, these sealing forces are often significantly exceeded so that the flanged connection may be harmfully overstressed.